HaptX releases its gloves for true-contact VR and robotics experiences

After years of research, development, prototyping and pilot projects, HaptX can finally touch its first commercial product. The startup said that its HaptX Gloves DK2 are now available for purchase, bringing true-contact #haptics to enterprise customers working in virtualreality and robotics.

The technology promises to deliver realistic touch feedback to users reaching out for objects in VR thanks to microfluidics in the glove system that physically and precisely displace the skin on a user’s hands and fingers.

HaptX founder and CEO Jake Rubin said the gloves might be the closest thing to “attaining real-life superpowers,” and that the possibilities are “virtually endless.”

“It marks a leap forward in what’s possible with VR, XR, and robotics technologies,” Rubin said in a news release. “Fortune 500 companies and governments around the world use HaptX Gloves to train their workforces. Automakers design and test new vehicles with them. Companies use them to control robots intuitively from a distance.”

HaptX says other haptic gloves are limited to vibration and force feedback. But the DK2 gloves, which work with a VR headset and tracker connected to a central control box, use more than 130 points of tactile feedback on each hand to deliver realism specifically suited for professionals in training and simulation, industrial design, and robotics.

HaptX has raised more than $19 million in funding and employs about 20 people across offices in Seattle, San Francisco and San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Source: GeekWire

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